Clinton likely to sign the Headwaters bill

Published 4:00 am, Friday, October 31, 1997

1997-10-31 04:00:00 PDT CALIFORNIA -- WASHINGTON - President Clinton is likely to sign a $13.8 billion spending bill that includes funds for the purchase of 7,500 acres of old-growth redwoods in Humboldt County's Headwaters Forest, despite widespread opposition by environmentalists.

In recent weeks, the administration and congressional Republicans reached agreement on the bill's plan for the federal government to pay $250 million to Pacific Lumber Co. of Scotia, Humboldt County, a subsidiary of the Houston-based Maxxam Corp.

The state of California would spend another $130 million to buy the redwood groves.

The Forest Service is now revising 20 of about 100 plans for national forests across the country and plans to begin reworking about 40 others next year. But the new bill would require the Forest Service to issue new regulations before proceeding, a hurdle that the administration fears could result in significant delays.

The administration also opposes a provision of the bill that gives logging companies incentives to build roads through national parks in order to reach timber - a perk the White House had proposed eliminating.

Melanie Griffin, director of land protection programs at the Sierra Club, said her organization is still opposed to the bill. The bill would pose too much danger to national forests and other public lands, she said.

In San Francisco, Carl Pope, the club's executive director, also opposes the bill. In the future, it would require an act of Congress for the federal government to buy thousands more acres that environmentalists say are part of the Headwaters Forest, Pope said.&lt;

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